Diego Costa will no doubt be sold this summer by cash-strapped Atletico[PA]The biggest trophy in club football could be housed in the crumbling Vicente Calderon Stadium, with its dirty, noisy motorway running beneath, rather than in the opulent Bernabeu, where they are clearing space for a 10th European Cup.
In the era of the super-elite clubs, this may equate to our own much-cherished idea of giantkilling.
However, this is far from a fairy tale - except in the sense that nothing is quite what it seems.
There is no denying Diego Simeone's cheaply-assembled Atletico team, along with Real, are among the best sides in Europe. But don't fall for too many romantic notions about what the La Liga leaders Atletico represent.
Their success is based on running massive debts which recently neared £500m, squirming out of tax payments, allegedly favourable help from the Spanish government and one massive transfer sale - the £52m sale of Radamel Falcao to Monaco - which highlights the brutal truth about how the football business operates these days, in the face of all the noble and misty-eyed ideas still held by fans everywhere.
Their finances are so tangled that their prizemoney was withheld by UEFA after Simeone led them to victory in the Europa League in 2012.
Radamel Falcao arrived at Atletico Madrid for £35m [GETTY]They are not the only team in hock to the banks, of course. It happens all over football. Manchester United's takeover by the Glazer family was financed this way. Real Madrid are said by some analysts to be nearly £500m in debt.
Howver, those giants can pay their way and service the loans. The mystery to many about Atletico is that they are not in the same position of economic strength.
They are also are at the forefront of an investigation by the European Commission into why seven Spanish clubs have been allowed to owe £528m in taxes and may also have been given favourable land deals and loans by the Madrid government. One leading Spanish economist, Jose Maria Gay De Leibana, says this may amount to illegal state aid.
The counter-argument is that clubs outside of Spain's Big Two have to be particularly smart financially to combat the vast financial advantages held by Real and Barcelona.
Then there is the dubious - in terms of pure sporting competitiveness - practice of third-party ownership of players which surrounds Atletico. FIFA allow this, although UEFA want it outlawed.
One investigation suggested only six members of the squad were owned outright by the club, with the remainder tied to agents or companies with a share in their careers.
In particular, Atletico's advance to the final should prompt a renewed focus on the £35m purchase of Falcao from Porto in 2011 and how it was financed.
The club has sold several big-name strikers in recent times; Fernando Torres, Sergio Aguero and Falcao. Diego Costa, who scored against Chelsea on Wednesday, will be next, possibly moving to Stamford Bridge.
Diego Simeone has transformed Atletico despite having to sell a number of top-players [GETTY]Every day fans take all this at face value. In fact, the deal by which Falcao was signed from Porto - he scored 52 times in 68 games in Madrid - was part-financed by a Malta-based company called Doyen which is linked to Jose Mourinho's agent, Jorge Mendes, and the former Manchester United and Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon.
Atletico could never have afforded Falcao otherwise. But he was a fundamental part of their current rise. This is why Arsene Wenger has complained about "financial doping" by rival clubs, at home and in Europe. It is also a part of the reason for UEFA's Financial Fair Play crackdown on spending by Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain.
Basically, it seems Atletico have bought huge advantages while somehow existing on massive, unsustainable borrowing. And under such scrutiny, it doesn't look like pure fairytale cup heroics, does it?
The payback for the aid in buying Falcao came, you guess, when he moved to Monaco last summer, and when Doyen's name appeared on Atletico's shirts.
This is the behind-the-scenes reality of the game. It isn't sport as most like dreamily to think of it. It is pure business.
Atletico versus Real is still hugely seductive. Who won't be lured by its surface romance and glamour? Who doesn't admire Atletico's tough, sharp play?
But a very modern story of the tangled and lucrative football netherworld underpins this final too.
No comments:
Post a Comment